Plan Academy, I have to send my client a copy of my schedule every month. But the client would like me to exclude any resourcing information in the copy that I send them. How can I easily remove resources in the copy of the project I send to my client? Signed, Geoff.
Geoff, it turns out that this is easily accomplished in Primavera P6 with the features included in the software’s smart project copy and paste.
Let me expand.
When you make a copy of a project schedule inside P6, you’ll find that there are quite a few options as you perform the paste function. This what I call smart copy and paste. The options you are presented with can save you loads of time and effort.
Remove Resources from a Primavera P6 project
Here are the steps to create a copy of your project schedule that excludes resourcing information:
1. Highlight your Project in the Projects window. Right-click and select Copy. Alternatively, if you like keyboard shortcuts, hit CTRL-C.
2. Paste your project by right-clicking and selecting paste (you can, of course choose a different location in your EPS if you like – now is the time). Or use CTRL-V to paste.
3. In the “Copy Project Options” dialogue, check all available options and click OK.
4. In the “Copy Baselines” dialogue, choose which project baselines you would like to include in the destination copy of your project by placing a checkmark in the “Copy” field. NOTE: the “Project Baseline” checkbox is not editable.
5. In the “Copy WBS Options” dialogue, check all available options and click OK.
6. Finally, we get to the “Copy Activity Options” dialogue, which is where the magic happens. Check all available options, but UNCHECK “Resource & Role Assignments”. This will ensure there are no Resource Assignments in the destination copy of the project. Click OK.
7. Your copy is completed now. Close any open projects, and open the newly minted copy of your project and export it to an XER file or any other file format you choose. Send this copy to your client sans resources and let everyone be happy!
Remove Activity Codes from a Primavera P6 project
Rather than exclude Resource and Role Assignments, another common request users ask about is excluding Activity Codes for clients.
Perform the same steps as above, but in step 6, uncheck the Activity Codes checkbox.
Wrap-Up
The smart project copy and paste in Primavera P6 can be used in all sorts of situations. Need to re-resource a schedule from scratch? Make a copy and leave out the resources. Need to remove risks or issues before sending a copy to client? This feature will help in these and other similar situations. Go and Play!
Never thought to remove resources this way. Smart way to do a simple task. I always use the resource usage spreadsheet and delete resources from there.
Thanks for the tip Michael and Happy holidays.
Roshan
Founder of http://www.haironfirepm.com
Hi Micheal… I need to send an XER file to a primary contractor, they in turn will import the XER file to their master schedule. They require the resource names and hours but not the dollars. My concern is that XER file also exports all proprietary data that we created. Our resource tables contain rates for other mega projects our company works for. As the primary contractor can at times be our competition, is there any way that we can be reassured that the database info does not get exported.
Thanks Paul
@Paul,
Interesting problem. You can use the xerFileParser to accomplish this. Essentially, you’ll export the project as a .xer, then open it in the xerfileparser utility, set all resource rates to $0, and re-create the .xer file. I’ll plan to put a tutorial together on this soon. In the meantime, go to this post https://www.planacademy.com/using-primaveras-xer-file-parser-import-wbs-from-excel-without-the-sdk/ to download the fileparser utility and see what you can do.
Michael
@Paul, please have a look at this post https://www.planacademy.com/remove-resource-costs-from-xers-primavera-p6/
Michael
@ Paul, I have problem exporting the xer file, because when I import this xer file the resources not included, its in the settings? thanks
Thank you for this tutorial
What is the simplest way to remove only the Resources without changing the Roles and the remainder of the resource assignment data?
The simplest way is to run a Global Change on your project. 1) Make a backup. 2) Goto Tools->Global Change . 3) Build this http://prntscr.com/bjmxbt . Run it. I tested it and it worked for me.